A Cumberland County deputy shot and killed a man at the scene of a brush fire on Sunday night in a residential neighborhood off Claude Lee Road.

This is an outdoor scene on a residential street at night. In the foreground there is an unmarked sheriff's office car, with blue lights shining from the back window toward the camera. In the background there is crime scene tape, a marked Sheriff's Office vehicle, and people standing nearby.
The scene where a Cumberland County deputy fatally shot a man on the 4000 block of Catherine Drive on Sunday, July 20, 2025. Credit: Cumberland County Sheriff's Office

As of early Monday afternoon, the Sheriff’s Office had not released the name of the man or the deputy. “As with any critical incident involving a Deputy, the State Bureau of Investigation has been contacted and will assume the investigation surrounding the circumstances of the shooting,” a news release from the Sheriff’s Office says.

According to the Sheriff’s Office news release:

  • The Pearce’s Mill Fire Department was fighting a brush fire in the area of Arline Drive on Sunday night. Arline Drive is in a small neighborhood of single-family homes near Exit 44 off Interstate 95, the Claude Lee Road interchange. It’s about a mile south of the Fayetteville Regional Airport.
  • At 9:58 p.m., firefighters requested assistance from law enforcement after they encountered a man with a firearm. The news release does not specify what the man was doing to prompt the firefighters’ call for assistance.
  • Cumberland County deputies responded. They found a man with a gun on the 4000 block of Catherine Drive. The news release does not say whether this is the same man that the firefighters had called about, but it leaves the impression that he was.
  • The deputies told the man on Catherine Drive to drop the firearm. The news release says the man pointed the gun at them, and one of the deputies shot him.
  • “Deputies on the scene rendered first aid until medical personnel arrived,” the news release says, but he died.

“The Deputies involved will be placed on administrative leave pending an internal review,” the news release says. “The investigation is ongoing, and more information will be released as it becomes available.”

Anyone with information that would assist in the investigation is asked to contact the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office of Internal Affairs at 910-677-5420, or the State Bureau of Investigation at 919-662-4500.

People who wish to submit information anonymously can call Fayetteville/Cumberland County Crimestoppers at 910-483-TIPS (8477). Crimestoppers’ information may also be submitted electronically at fay-nccrimestoppers.org.

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